Man Catches 15ft Thresher Shark Off The Isle Of Wight

A shark measuring 15 foot long has been caught near the Isle of Wight

An angler has reeled in a 15ft thresher shark just three miles south of the Isle of Wight, in the same waters where a Great White had been reportedly spotted two weeks ago.

Wayne Comben, who’s Solent-based, took a picture of the shark before it was released back into the sea, as reported in ‘The Sun’.

The huge fish was reeled in alongside Wayne’s 17ft long boat named the Thresher. The shark was almost the same size as the boat.

Wayne believes the thresher weighed 350lbs, which would make it heavier than the existing British record.

Wayne caught a shark like this one, which he shared on social media.

It’s thought thresher sharks are not usually harmful to humans but can cause serious injury with their thrashing tails which they use to stun their prey in the waters.

When I released it slapped me with his fin and gave me a big bruise on my left shoulder. I’m fortunate it was not a full-on slap because I would have been knocked unconscious.

There’s something quite thrilling about catching a thresher. I guess it’s the sense of danger.

Father-of-one Wayne, 50, said threshers are very dangerous and powerful:

"They have a huge fin which can cause a lot of damage and very sharp teeth. It took me two hours to get the shark to the side of the boat as he made countless runs for it. It was an immense, very powerful creature – 350lb of solid muscle.

But it is said that more of them are being attracted to British waters in the summer months due to climate change.

He added that with the warm weather continuing, he wonders what other species of sharks are heading towards our beaches."

Maybe the warmer air temperatures coupled with the arrival of all these thresher sharks will create the perfect storm of sharks with multiple species of sharks turning up at the same time, perhaps coming into our waters all in one rush.

With all the shark species competing for dwindling food sources there is going to be some competition amongst them, so expect to see more shark fins this summer